Leading Alzheimer’s expert to speak at UK (University of Kentucky)
Dr. Ron Petersen diagnosed former President Reagan
He participated in Glen Campbell’s documentary and treatment
He’ll speak at Markesbery Symposium on Aging and Dementia
Lexington Herald Leader
November 17, 2015

“We now view Alzheimer’s disease as a spectrum of disorders, from people who are clearly impaired with dementia — the dementia stage of Alzheimer’s disease — but also the earlier stages, so-called mild cognitive impairment stage, or MCI. And now we also recognize that people who are normal — cognitively, clinically normal — can have the underlying biological predisposition to develop Alzheimer’s disease....” -- Dr, Petersen

Dr. Ronald Petersen is a professor of Neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and the director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Center and the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. He will be the keynote speaker at an upcoming symposium at the University of Kentucky. Fans will recognize Dr. Petersen's name as Glen Campbell's physician from the documentary, I'll Be Me.

In this article:

Many people think there's never been a darker time for Alzheimer's disease (AD).
There's no cure, they point out. The field is littered with treatment failures; the last time the FDA approved a drug to treat the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease was 2003.
Petersen is adamant that this is wrong-headed thinking. "We learn even in failure," he said, "and we know more than ever before about how and when the AD disease process begins."

"Glen Campbell's situation is a terrific example of both how frustrating and confusing AD can be, but also how the support of family and others can make the best of a bad situation," said Petersen....

"We've made great strides in the last decade or so, and are now able to detect the disease earlier than we formerly could," said Petersen. "While we currently have very little in the form of drug therapies to treat AD once it's diagnosed, we still encourage an early diagnosis to allow for lifestyle modifications and planning for the future."